Travel insurance: Customers looking for terrorism cover

Analysis of customer behavior on CANSTAR’s comparison tables indicates that overseas travelers are increasingly concerned about the possibility of terrorism.

Analysis of more than 30,000 visitors to the canstar.com.au travel insurance comparison tables over the past 13 months has found a strong correlation between high profile terror events overseas and Australians’ eagerness to have terrorism coverage as part of their travel insurance policy.

In the wake of the Nice tragedy in July, CANSTAR noted that the proportion of visitors specifically searching for a travel insurance policy that includes cover for terrorism-related event shot to almost 47% of visitors. In June the equivalent proportion was 26%.

“It probably understandable given the tragic events this month in Nice (and perhaps the Turkish coup), and may also possibly reflect some concern by travellers heading to the upcoming Olympic Games.”
– Mitchell Watson, Head of Research

Search volume for terrorism cover would appear to be related to specific terrorist events; in November last year, as well, CANSTAR noted a spike in visitors searching for travel insurance that incorporates terrorism cover (43%), which coincided with the November Paris attacks at the Bataclan Theatre and elsewhere.

Chances of a terror attack

The government’s Smarttraveller terrorist Threat Bulletin, issued in late July, stated that there is a continuing and long-standing threat of terrorist attack across the world, with a nine-fold increase in the number of deaths from terrorism since 2000.

“Australia and Australians are viewed by the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and other terrorist groups as a target for terrorist attacks. This threat extends worldwide. Even in cases where attacks may not specifically target Australian interests, Australians can, and have been, harmed in indiscriminate attacks or attacks aimed at others.”

Source Smart Traveller

Nevertheless, your individual risk of being directly impacted by a terrorism event is low, with just over 100 Australians having been killed in public terrorist attacks since 2001. According to Smart traveller, Australians have been killed in the following events:

the attack in Tunis on the Bardo National Museum on 18 March 2015

the attack in Nairobi on Westgate Mall in 2013

the attacks in Jakarta on the Marriott and Ritz Carlton Hotels in 2009

This advice is general and has not taken into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider whether this advice is right for you. Consider the product disclosure statement before making a purchase decision. Canstar provides an information service. It is not a credit provider, and in giving you information about credit products Canstar is not making any suggestion or recommendation to you about a particular credit product. Statistics referenced on this page have been verified by Canstar Research. Research provided by Canstar Research AFSL and Australian Credit Licence No. 437917.